


Blankets X And X Blank Pages

by Emerald_Inkspot493



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Canon-Typical Transphobia, Gen, Ging doesn't exist and Kite's your dad now buddy, Kite doesn't know how to talk to people, Modern Era, Nobody is Dead, That is all, illumi is a bitch, it's mild just like one comment but it's there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22245097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Inkspot493/pseuds/Emerald_Inkspot493
Summary: Mito has to leave town for work, and needs to find someone to watch Gon. Killua ends up staying over as well, for...unexplained family reasons. Mito decides to contact one of Ging's old friends who she's met before - this is how Kite finds himself trying to manage work and look after two rowdy middle-schoolers. Kite definitely does not know what to do around children. Also Hisoka and Illumi are here...?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Obligatory "I don't know how to do summaries" comment, I've been procrastinating homework by writing this, this is the first HxH fic I've ever published, etc. As of right now I've written five chapters but I just thought of a title five minutes ago.  
> If you liked this, come check out my tumblr @adcuiliell3. Thanks for reading!

“Gon, sweetie, do you have a second? Are you studying?” Mito stood just outside the closed door to his room.

“Yeah, but it’s okay, Aunt Mito! Did you need me for something?” She could hear his chair slide back from the desk, followed by a few quick footsteps before he opened the door.

“I’m going to be out of town next week for a business trip,” she explained once he opened the door a little, poking his head outside. “I’m leaving on Sunday, and I should be back Friday afternoon. I’ll need to get someone to stay here, okay?”

“But I’m almost thirteen! I’m in middle school, I don’t need a babysitter!” he tried to argue, opening the door fully now.

“I’m not letting you walk all the way to school and back by yourself.”

“I could just get Leorio to drive me - or Kurapika, he can drive now, too!”

“They both have midterms this week, remember?” Gon had been friends with the two boys for years through YMCA after-school programs and the like, and Mito trusted them more than most teenagers, but she shook her head.

“Besides, somebody needs to make sure you eat well, since I’ll be gone longer this time. I’m pretty sure Leorio only knows how to make frozen waffles and grilled cheese, and Kurapika barely remembers to feed himself half the time, so I’m getting an actual adult to spend the week here. I’m not letting you eat banana sandwiches for every meal, Gon. I asked someone that I already know, he’s going to be here on Sunday night, okay?”

“Wait, so you’ve already found someone?”

“Yes, I called one of your father’s friends - ”

“Whoah, really? Is it someone I know?”

Mito paused. “You’ve met before, but you were probably too young to remember it. His name is Kite. He worked with your dad a long time ago, and he was in town for a while for his job when you were little, so I’ve met him a few times. We don’t really keep in contact, but I didn’t know who else to ask - he travels a lot for work, and he said he didn’t need to be on-site at his job for this week, so he was looking for somewhere to stay, anyways.”

***

“This is pointless. Who cares about the mayor’s election in Yorknew a hundred years ago?”

“You’re not as quiet as you think, Mr. Zoldyck.” The teacher gave him a scathing look from behind his desk. “For your information, Killua, the particular method of fraud seen here has also occurred worldwide in elections as recently as one decade ago.”

Killua froze, an innocent look on his face until he looked away.

As soon as their teacher’s attention was elsewhere, Killua turned to Gon. “I don’t know how, but every time Mr. Satotz talks, it just makes this class even less interesting,” he whispered, feigning surprise.

Gon was furiously taking notes, looking between the board and his notebook. “I don’t know, I’m just worried about our next test.”

“Relax, it’s fine. We’ll just get Kurapika to help us study on Monday. Oh yeah, that reminds me! We need to ask Leorio to check over our biology papers, right?”

Gon didn’t answer, busy scribbling extra notes into his paper’s margins.

“Maybe we could stay later on Monday,” Killua suggested.

Gon looked up suddenly. “Oh yeah! That’s what I forgot to tell you!”

“Mr. Freecss, please.” Mr. Satotz motioned for him to be quiet.

“That’s what I forgot to tell you,” he whispered to Killua, hardly even pausing. “My aunt Mito’s out of town for work this week!”

“Wait, she is?”

“Mmhmm.” Gon nodded cheerfully. “She’s getting one of Ging’s friends to stay at our house. Not that I think I need someone there - but it’ll be really cool to meet one of my dad’s friends, right?”

“I didn’t think she would trust any of your dad’s friends.”

“Me neither, but you know how she is - she wouldn’t hire a babysitter she didn’t completely trust, she probably…I don’t know, did background checks or something. She said she knew him already, too. Maybe he’ll be okay with you coming over and we can study over there!”

Killua looked down at his desk - at the blank paper. He’d been planning to take notes, but…Mr. Satotz’ class just seemed so unnecessary. “Hey, Gon…do you think you could ask your aunt if I could just spend the week over there?”

“Sure, why? Is everything okay?” Gon leaned forward, bracing his arms against the back of Killua’s chair.

“Yeah. My parents have some more ‘confidential work stuff - ’” he rolled his eyes, using air quotes for added effect, “ - and they told me I needed to find somewhere to stay for the week. Trust me, they won’t mind paying for it, but they want me out of the house again. I’d planned on asking to stay with you anyways. Illumi offered to let me stay at his friend’s house with him, but he was smiling, and he’s never nice to me anyways, so I’m pretty sure that’s a bad idea.”

“Illumi has friends?” Gon interrupted, earning another glare from their history teacher.

“Well, he has one friend, I think. Maybe two? But they’re so weird…like, as weird as he is. There’s no way I’d go anywhere near them, let alone stay with them. Can you ask your aunt if your dad’s friend is okay with us both being there? Find out how much more he’d charge and I’m sure my parents will pay the difference.”

Gon looked across the classroom, to the table where all the students’ cellphones were stacked in a box. “…Yeah, I’ll do that as soon as we get out of class.”

***

Hey Killua

My aunt said she didn’t mind you staying over this week if Mr. Kite is okay with it

what the hell kind of name is Kite

but yeah that’s good thanks

??

She says it would be easier to just give him your parents number?

To figure out the price

ok I’ll ask what number they want me to use

one second

thanks

No problem!!

Killua it’s gonna be like a sleepover!

But for a whole week!!

  
  



	2. Sunday

“Thanks for the ride, Ms. Mito!” Killua jumped into the back seat of her car after Gon.

“Any time! Are you sure you have everything?” She looked back at the two boys, who were trying to shove Killua’s bags into the car’s floorboard and buckle their seatbelts.

“Yeah - I only have my backpack and this one duffel bag, it’s not too much to keep up with.” He propped his skateboard against the back of the seat in front of him.

“Alright, you boys just sit tight, okay?” She turned back around, watching through the rearview mirror as Killua struggled to untangle himself from the straps of his backpack.

It was only a twenty-minute drive from Killua’s house to Gon’s. She couldn’t help but notice that every time she picked him up, Gon’s friend seemed to get happier the further he got from his house. It was like there was a positive correlation between how relaxed he was and the number of miles from his parents’ house they were. She always tried to make it possible for the two boys to spend time together whenever she could help it.

“Okay, I’m not going to be able to stay long, I have to get to the airport pretty quickly. Have you had lunch, Killua?” she asked as they turned into the neighborhood.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Now, boys, Kite should be getting here any minute, so I want both of you on your best behavior, alright?”

Both of them agreed - but hardly a minute later, they were once again scrambling over top of each other to get out of the car.

“Hey, Killua, let me try out your skateboard!”

“No way, you’re gonna fall!”

“So? You can teach me, you’ve been saying you’d show me how to skateboard for ages!”

“…Oh yeah. I did say that, didn’t I? Maybe we can do that after school this week?”

“Yeah, that’ll be awesome! Did you hear that, Aunt Mito?”

She nodded, then looked past the boys, smiling fondly when they spun around almost in unison to see what she was looking at.

They lived in a small enough subdivision that Gon could recognize most of the cars he would see in the neighborhood, but as he worked his way through the names of neighbors he knew, he realized the blue Jeep didn’t belong to any of them.

The two boys were still standing there watching as the old Cherokee pulled into the driveway. Mito moved around them, approaching the car as the driver opened the door.

The man stood beside the open door, taking a moment to remove his hat and smooth his hair beneath it before returning it to his head.

“Kite! It’s good to see you!”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” His smile was slight and subdued, but he reached forward when Mito moved to shake his hand.

“It has - thank you, again. I’m so glad you were able to help out with the boys,” Mito turned to look at both of them. 

“This is Gon and Killua,” she gestured to them in turn. “Boys, this is Kite. Don’t give him any trouble, okay?”

Kite turned towards them, standing a bit behind Gon’s aunt. He didn’t point out how much Gon clearly looked like his dad, but the boy assumed he was thinking about it from the way he squinted for a moment, pausing before nodding a silent hello.

“I wish I could show you around the house, but I’m already running late - I should be halfway to the airport right now. I’ve already made dinner, it’s in the refrigerator for when you want it.”

“Thank you. I don’t want to keep you if you’re already running late, I’ll call you if I have any questions, don’t worry.” Kite opened the rear door of his car to take out the duffel bag he had brought with him as Mito turned towards the two boys.

“Don’t be too much trouble for him, okay?” Gon thought she was looking at him more than Killua, for some reason. “He’s just doing this because he used to be friends with your father, Gon - so be on your best behavior, please?”

Gon nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, we will! Don’t worry about us, Aunt Mito!”

Killua agreed as well, a bit less energetically.

She looked at her watch, then moved to double check that all her bags were accounted for in the trunk of her car. “I really have to go. Call me if you need anything, you promise?”

“Don’t worry, we will! We’ll be fine!”

She turned back to Gon, ruffling his hair and pulling him into an impossibly tight hug. Killua was left standing beside them awkwardly for a moment. Behind him, Kite had shouldered his bag, leaning against his car as he waited.

Mito stepped back after another moment, then handed the spare keys over to Kite. “Call me if you need anything, okay?” She repeated, moving around to the driver’s side of her car.

“Bye Aunt Mito! I love you!” Gon shouted as she opened the car door.

“I love you too! Be good, okay? I’ll text you every night - you better answer this time!”

“I will, don’t worry!” He assured her as she closed the car door. In a few moments, she’d backed her car out of the driveway and started down the street, leaving Gon, Killua, and Kite standing alone in front of the house.

Kite immediately moved to help with Killua’s bags. He flicked the loose strands of his long hair back over his shoulder so it wouldn’t get caught under the backpack, then reached for Killua’s other bag too, leaving him with only the skateboard to carry.

He gestured for them to follow him up to the house’s porch, then opened the door, nudging it open with the bags he was holding.

“Where do you want me to put your bags?” It was the first thing he’d said to them.

“Uh, I can take those - hey, Gon, can I just put them in your room for now?” Killua reached up to take his backpack.

“Sure!” Gon shut the door behind them. “What do you want to do after that?”

“Why are you asking me?” Killua picked up his other bag, but continued: “…do you just wanna watch tv or something?”

“Okay, sure! Um - Mr. Kite, is that okay? Do you want us to help with dinner or something?”

“No, you don’t need to - it’s already made, right? It shouldn’t be too hard, then. …I’ll just leave my stuff by the couch, okay?”

Gon nodded, and Kite crossed the room to put his bag down out of the way, behind the couch. He took off his hat, setting it on top of the bag. “It’s later than I thought. I’ll probably heat up the food in about an hour.”

Gon and Killua agreed, too excited about the novelty of a week-long sleepover to do anything else, and took off at full speed down the hall towards Gon’s room.

***

An hour later, the boys were sitting on the couch, barely watching the tv that they’d turned on. Instead, they were happily discussing their plans for the rest of the week. Kite could hear them from the kitchen, where he was finishing heating up the meal that Mito had prepared earlier.

“If we ask Kurapika to help us study for the test tomorrow, then we can get started on our English homework at night, right? Do you think we’ll get enough studying after school?”

“Yeah, I think so. The test is only the last two chapters, right? It can’t take that long to study for it.”

Kite came into the room from the kitchen, carrying a tray with three plates on it. He set it down on the coffee table in front of the couch, then took one of the plates with him as he went to sit in the chair nearby.

“Wow, thanks!” Gon looked up, reaching for his own plate.

“Don’t thank me: your aunt made it, I just put it in the microwave for a couple seconds. I didn’t get drinks, I thought I’d bring this out and then ask what you wanted.”

“It’s okay, I can get drinks for us, don’t worry!” Gon sprung up from his seat. “Hey, Killua, what do you want?”

Killua sat up from where he’d been sprawled across the couch, his legs dangling over one arm. “I don’t know, what are you getting?”

“Apple juice, probably.”

“Why are you having apple juice with dinner? With pasta? That’s a breakfast thing.”

“No it’s not! What’s wrong with having apple juice at dinner?”

Killua put his hands into his pockets. “I don’t know, it just seems weird. Can you just get me some water?”

Gon nodded. “What do you want, Kite?”

“Water’s just fine. Thanks.”

Gon was back in just a few moments with a water bottle under each arm so he could hold his glass of apple juice with both hands. He handed over the other two drinks, then went back to the couch. Killua had stretched back out, taking up more space than before, and Gon tugged the pillow out front under him to try to make him move over.

***

Kite finished first, putting his plate on the table in front of him. He stood, going behind the couch and rummaging through the bag he’d brought with him. He took out a laptop bag and put it on the seat of the chair he’d been sitting in, but remained standing.

“It’s freezing in here,” he said after a moment. “You always keep it this cold?”

“Huh? I’m not cold - are you, Killua?” Gon poked his friend, who was once again taking up most of the space on the couch.

“Not really.”

“I’m not going to mess with the thermostat while I’m here, but is there a blanket I can borrow or something?”

“Yeah, sure!” Gon pointed to a door in the hallway, just past the edge of the living room. “I think there’s a couple blankets on the top shelf in that closet.”

“Right, thanks.” Kite moved to open the closet door, taking down a thick plaid blanket that had been folded on the shelf. He returned to the room wearing a very frustrated expression, wrapped head to toe in the blanket - or, he would’ve been if it hadn’t stopped just around his knees, like an awkward buffalo-check-patterned cloak. Killua laughed before he could stop himself.

Kite went back to the chair, awkwardly tucking his legs under him and tugging the blanket to cover as much of him as possible. He opened his laptop, attempting to be productive as Gon and Killua turned back to the television.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've gotten this far I promise things will pick up soon but for now let's just enjoy the dynamic of this trio in a timeline where the rest of the Chimera Ant arc never fucking happens and Kite doesn't get vibe checked by a cat.


	3. Monday

In the morning, Killua and Gon woke up earlier than Kite was expecting - and with a lot more energy, despite how late they’d stayed up the night before. He knew he could’ve told them to turn off the tv, but he doubted they would’ve gone to sleep any earlier that way. They would’ve just stayed up talking for half the night in their room or something - not that he could blame them, a week-long sleepover must be pretty exciting.

Both of the boys entered the kitchen at the same time. Gon was wearing his pajamas, but at least his hair was brushed - Killua’s hair was a complete mess, even though he was already dressed. Kite turned around to look at them as they stood awkwardly near the table.

“Um, do you want us to help with anything? You don’t have to make breakfast for us if you don’t want to,” Gon suggested.

“It’s okay, I’m almost done. It’s nothing special, though. I don’t know what your aunt usually makes.” Kite turned back around to finish moving the food to the three plates, before bringing them over to the table.

Killua immediately reached for salt, pepper, and hot sauce to add to his scrambled eggs. Gon, meanwhile, was hurriedly putting jelly on his toast. Kite watched from over his coffee as Killua added even more pepper to his eggs, only a little concerned.

“Whoah, this is really good!” Gon had put some of the eggs and bacon onto another piece of toast and was trying to eat it before they fell off - or was it one of the pieces that had jelly? Kite couldn’t tell, and he tried not to linger on the thought for too long.

“Well, I’m glad you like it. It isn’t much, but scrambled eggs are pretty easy to make.” Kite found himself smiling a bit as Gon made another sandwich with his food, and Killua reached for the hot sauce again.

They ate mostly in silence after that. Gon and Killua were busy wolfing down their food, and Kite wasn’t really sure how to start the conversation, if he was honest with himself. He’d really only taken this job as a favor to Mito, and he was the sort of person who never felt entirely comfortable entertaining children.

“So… do you have anything after school? Mito told me that you usually stay later on Mondays.”

Killua nodded. “Yeah, we usually go to a cafe near our school with two of our friends in high school. Sometimes they help us study for an hour or so, and Gon’s aunt usually picks us up afterwards.”

“Can you show me where it is on the way to the school this morning? …An hour after classes end - so, 3:30. Does that sound right?” Kite tugged at the sleeves of his turtleneck, folding them back to his elbows as he stood. “I’m going to wash the dishes while you two finish getting ready for school, okay?”

Both of the boys hurried to stand, their chairs squeaking across the floor. Gon reached over for the other two plates and gathered them up with his own, rushing to stack them beside the sink.

“Thanks a lot, Kite!” Gon said as he left the kitchen, with entirely too much energy for this early in the morning.

“Yeah, breakfast was really good!” Killua echoed him.

Kite started to answer, but Gon was already talking to his friend again. “How would you know, you couldn’t even taste it with all the hot sauce you put on everything!”

“So? I said it was good. Hot sauce does taste good.”

As they continued their bickering, Kite turned back to the sink to wash the dishes, tying his hair back loosely.

***

By the time he was finished with the dishes, the boys had already finished getting ready for school and were waiting by the door, talking loudly.

“Do you think Leorio is going to have time to help us with our biology papers? He might have extra studying to do since they have exams soon, right?”

“I hope he can help us - I think I confused some of the terms on my first page, but I’m not sure. It’s definitely better than my last paper, though!”

“Well, yeah, it’s just about ecosystems. It makes more sense to me than the parts of a cell.”

As Kite went into the living room to get his hat and car keys, he filed away the bits of information he’d heard. Maybe he could offer to help them with their papers, if they needed to do more work after leaving the cafe.

The ride to the boys’ school was uneventful, even if it was a bit louder than Kite would’ve liked. He still didn’t understand how they could be so energetic this early in the morning, and he was the only one who’d had coffee. Both Gon and Killua were sitting in the back seat of his car, rambling excitedly about things he didn’t even want to try to figure out. They pointed out the cafe, just a short walk from their school, and he dropped them off at school, which went as expected.

When Kite returned to the house, he paused inside the door to survey the living room. He began tidying the area around the couch he was sleeping on at night, folding up the blankets he’d used.

On second thought - Kite unfolded the blanket on the top of the pile, wrapping it loosely around his shoulders as he unzipped his computer bag. Adjusting the thick blanket, he sank onto the couch, using the rest of the stack as a pillow and stretching his legs across towards its other arm.

He couldn’t figure out why it was so damn cold in the house, but he wasn’t about to mess with the thermostat and make Mito pay extra for heat while she was gone. Kite reached for the tv remote, idly flipping through channels until he found a documentary of some kind. Leaving the volume low enough that he could use it as background noise while he worked, he turned to his computer and opened the text documents and emails he’d need for his work for now. He let his hat slide back without bothering to fix it as he started reading through one of the files.

After a while he sighed, looking away from the screen. The nature documentary had gone to a commercial, so he closed his eyes for a moment. It couldn’t have been past ten in the morning. He’d planned on finishing this part of his work by the end of the day - luckily enough his schedule was flexible enough to allow for that. 

Kite closed his eyes for a moment, turning his head into the pile of folded blankets. His hat slipped further off his head but he still didn’t reach to adjust it. He did, however, pull the blanket that was over him further up so that it covered the lower half of his face. It wasn’t like he was procrastinating his work, of course not. He was just trying to figure out the best way to make his writing sound professional for an audience that would no doubt overanalyze every word of his research. Until he thought of the right phrasing, though, there was no problem with listening to advertisements for fast food and car dealerships.

***

“Wait, did I tell you that Illumi said I could stay with him and his friend this week? He was smiling! Guys, you do realize how creepy it is when my brother smiles, right?” Killua and Gon had their homework spread out in front of them, but neither of them were looking at it. Killua was talking animatedly in the nearly empty cafe, and the others were watching him - well, Gon and Leorio were watching him. Kurapika was listening clearly, from the way he kept commenting on the others’ conversation, but he was actually working on a homework assignment, somehow able to balance his attention between both at once.

“They’ve gotten so much weirder since they graduated - I didn’t even know that was possible?”

Leorio considered for a moment. “I hate being around them. Yeah, they’re creeps and I definitely don’t trust them around you two, but if I have to smell any more of that stupid fake cotton candy vape juice I’m going to choke them.”

Killua snickered.

“Whatever you’re thinking don’t say it. Or you won’t get any more help on your paper.”

“Hisoka would probably enjoy it if you did, to be honest,” he was still smirking to himself.

“You’re twelve, you shouldn’t be - ”

“I’m thirteen, actually, Leorio.”

“I don’t care!” He looked like he wanted to continue, but he stopped talking at a particularly intense look from Kurapika.

“You’re not wrong, but there’s no reason to yell.” Kurapika looked back down to his homework and raised one hand to his ear, rolling the red stone at the end of his earring between two fingers as if it would help him think.

Leorio eventually stopped glaring at Killua and picked up Gon’s paper, trying to find the last thing he’d read. He’d already finished proofreading Killua’s paper, and only had a little left on Gon’s. It was almost relaxing, to read over things like this: they made more sense than his calculus homework, at least.

“Hey, Killua, it’s been about an hour now. Kite should be here pretty soon.” Gon looked up after a few more minutes.

“Oh yeah, you’re right!” Killua jumped up, starting to shove his papers back into folders. “Thanks for helping us study, Kurapika!”

Leorio was opening his mouth to complain about being forgotten when Kurapika spoke, still fiddling with his earring. “Kite - he’s your dad’s friend, right, Gon?”

“Yeah - he knows Aunt Mito too, but I’m not really sure how.”

“Your dad’s friend, huh? What’s he like? Did he tell you anything about Ging?” Leorio questioned, his frustration forgotten. All of them had heard plenty about Gon’s father, but still knew next to nothing about him - for all Gon talked about the man, he didn’t know anything about him, either. Needless to say, they were curious.

“He hasn’t said anything about Ging yet, but he hasn’t said a lot anyways. I think he’s just like that.”

Kurapika hummed his approval. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s better than talking too much, in my opinion.”

“He’s really nice, too - he even made us breakfast this morning! It wasn’t like Aunt Mito’s, but it was still really good. Right, Killua?”

“Your aunt’s breakfasts are pretty incredible,” Leorio pointed out as Killua nodded in answer to Gon’s question. “Remember that time she made pancakes for all of us?”

Kurapika quirked an eyebrow, a silent expression of disapproval directed in Leorio’s general area.

The high-schoolers were planning to stay longer to study, but Gon and Killua started packing up their bags. They finished with almost perfect timing: Killua saw Kite’s car pull into the lot as he was zipping up his backpack.

“Hey, Gon. Kite’s here, are you ready?”

“Yeah, one second - thanks again for helping us study, guys!”

A moment later, the cafe’s door opened, the bell hung over it jingling a little. Gon spun around to see Kite standing just inside the doorway. Immediately, Gon waved at him, already running towards him.

Kite stopped short, unused to Gon’s loud, cheerful manner.

“Are you two ready to go? You can stay a little longer if you need to.”

“No, it’s okay, we already packed our stuff up. You should come meet our friends!”

He let Gon pull him towards the table where the others were sitting. He definitely liked the cafe - he’d have to remember it, maybe he could get some work done here one day while the boys were at school.

Leorio was the first to stand, Kurapika just a second behind him.

“I’m Leorio Paladiknight, it’s nice to meet you!” Leorio and Kite were around the same height, which was…impressive. “Wait, you know Ging, right? Can you tell us anything about him?”

Kurapika lightly punched his friend’s shoulder. “Don’t be rude, Leorio. …I’m Kurapika Kurta, by the way. I’m sorry for him.”

“It’s fine. It’s nice to meet you both. And - um… I’m not really all that close to Ging, sorry to disappoint. We email every few months, maybe talk on the phone a couple times a year. I don’t know much about him. I doubt anyone does, really. We met through work a long time ago.”

“So you have the same job as my dad, then?” Gon looked up excitedly. “My aunt didn’t really tell me anything.”

“Sorry, not quite. He’s an archaeologist, I’m a biological surveyor. He was in charge of a project a while ago and hired me on - we worked together on that site for a few years. He put in a good word for me after that, and helped me get a few jobs to build a good reputation, so I owe him. Right now I’m mostly just compiling research for publishing, things like that, so my work is more flexible - I only met your aunt Mito a few times before, but I’ll always be willing to help out Ging’s family if I’m able to.”

“You’re a biological surveyor? So you do research and stuff about wildlife? That’s so awesome!” Gon grinned.

“It does seem interesting. Can you tell us about the research you’re working on?” Kurapika asked.

“Um.” Kite looked between them - all four were listening intently for his answer. He tugged his hat down a little lower over his eyes. “Well, my team has been doing a longterm study on small-billed swans - since they’re only native to one small region, they’re more at risk of extinction from small environmental changes than a species that could adapt to more locations. We’ve been researching their nesting habits, and another group has been studying their impact on the ecosystem, so we can understand why they have such a small range and theorize the results of introducing them somewhere else. Technically I’m over both halves of the project, but one of the two heads of the other department is a bit…hardheaded in how he records his results, so compiling everything has been more complicated than expected.”

“That’s so cool! Can you show me and Killua some pictures of the swans when we get home?” Gon shouldered his backpack.

“Sure. I’m glad you thought it was interesting.” Kite found himself a little more at ease.

“It was nice to meet you,” Kurapika offered, returning to the table and opening one of his notebooks. “I’m a bit interested in your research as well, actually. I’d like to hear more about it sometime.”

As Gon led both Killua and Kite towards the cafe’s door, Leorio turned to his friend.

“Hey, Kurapika - how are you studying for our civics final? I know we have to memorize a lot of court cases, but which ones do you think will actually be on the test?”

“I highlighted some in my notes when we went over them in class - that’s my best guess, really. Here, let me find it for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gon eats jelly with his eggs and bacon and Killua can't taste anything other than hot sauce. I've been trying my best to make a realistic modern AU version of how Kite knows Ging but I'm still not 100% confident with how it turned out. Kurapika was me in high school - perfectly scheduled planner and color coded notes but .5 seconds away from throwing a textbook on the floor and screeching at any given second...now that's me but in college! I have bio homework to catch up on but here I am!


	4. Tuesday

On Tuesday morning, Gon and Killua came into the kitchen with nearly as much energy as they had the day before.

“Hi, Kite! Can I help with breakfast? Killua, you should come help too!”

“Hm - sure, you can just put butter on the toast, if you want.” Kite turned back around to keep preparing the rest of the breakfast.

The coffee pot had finished brewing, and Killua moved to pour it into the cup Kite had set out so he wasn’t the only one doing nothing. With Kite’s back still turned, Killua eyed the little bit of coffee left in the bottom of the pot. He grinned at Gon.

“Hey, watch this - ”

Hearing that phrase, and the obvious mischief in Killua’s voice, Kite reflexively spun around.

The first thing he saw was the empty coffee pot in Killua’s hand as the kid swallowed the black coffee, holding eye contact with Gon with a catlike smile on his face.

Kite saw the full mug of coffee on the counter. Okay, that was…less concerning, but still impressive that Killua had just chugged the leftover bitter coffee without making a face. Still, he should at least say something, right?

“Hey, Gon - does your aunt let you have coffee?”

“Not really. She says I don’t need the caffeine.” Yeah, that was definitely true. “Besides, I don’t really like the taste of it.”

“It isn’t that bad if you get used to it,” Killua offered, still smirking.

Kite turned to the white-haired boy. “Yeah, I can’t really get mad at you for having a couple sips of coffee. Breakfast is ready, though, and we should be leaving soon, so don’t take too long, okay?”

As the boys began wolfing down their breakfast, Kite found himself deep in thought. Should he have said something else to Killua? It wasn’t that he actually cared about the coffee, but if the boys thought they could do whatever they wanted - well, the rest of the week would be rough. Still, it was too late now to say anything, he reasoned with himself. It would surely be fine, anyways. And if anything did come of it, the soonest it could be was after he’d picked them up from school, so he had time to think it over. It would be fine. It would be completely fine, he could handle this, and he hadn’t made a mistake in babysitting two middle school boys for a week. It was a favor to an old friend, that was all. He owed Ging, it was the least he could do.

Then where the hell was Ging off to, anyways? Off leading some restoration project on the other side of the globe no doubt, while Mito worked full time and raised his kid for him. Well, he supposed he couldn’t be surprised. Even when Kite had worked with Ging, the archaeologist hadn’t seemed to be the parental type, to put it nicely. He’d been hyper-competent in his field, and nice enough to the people he worked with, but he never got close to any of them and there was a certain restlessness about him, like he couldn’t stay in one place for long. Kite understood that feeling at least, and he certainly wasn’t one to stay put for too long - but at least when he traveled, his whole research team traveled together, like some sort of odd, cobbled-together family or something.

***

Kite read over the email he had drafted, probably for the third time. Was it too harsh? Did it matter if it was? Maybe he should just come back to it - surely there was some other work he could find that didn’t involve interacting with his coworkers.

For researching the swans’ habitat, Kite’s team had partnered with a few other people who had the equipment they needed. They needed data on various water parameters, and it was cheaper to hire people who already had the equipment and knew how to operate it and interpret the data to tell them about how the swans impacted their ecosystem. The team of three that had been hired on for that half of the project, though, was apparently more used to working on the sea or other large bodies of water, and was proving hard to work with. They were good at their job, Kite had no complaints there, but…the one in charge had his own ways of doing things, and didn’t want to change his methods for a bunch of bio surveyors. Kite couldn’t blame him, but that didn’t mean he had to enjoy dealing with it. There were better things to do than re-format a spreadsheet on water turbidity for his team to use because it hadn’t been recorded the way they’d discussed.

“Mr. Mackernasey,

I received the data your team collected on littoral turbidity levels on the lake’s southern shore and I am currently in the process of incorporating this data into my team’s research. For future samples, I would like to remind you that my team members have requested that data be formatted as shown in the example included with - ”

The sudden noise from the backyard startled him away from reading over the email draft yet another time. Well, Gon and Killua were both laughing, so it couldn’t have been anything that bad… Still, seeing what was going on would be the responsible thing to do.

Kite stood from where he’d been sitting at the kitchen table and made his way to the back door, almost not wanting to know where the noise had come from. He looked outside to see Killua’s skateboard somehow stuck through the arm of one of the plastic lawn chairs near the house. Gon and Killua were both standing a few yards away, which meant -

“Sorry! I don’t know how that even happened! I won’t do it again!” Gon was looking back and forth between Kite and the skateboard. Killua was laughing too hard to say anything.

“…Gon, did…were you trying to do tricks with Killua’s skateboard…?”

“…yes?”

“Um. Yeah, let’s…not do that. It’s getting dark anyways. Is there anything you can do that’s…less likely to get us all in trouble when Mito comes back? Have you finished your homework?”

Killua nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. We finished about an hour ago.”

“Come inside, then,” Kite leaned against the doorframe. “I’m going to order takeout, come figure out what you want to eat, alright? If you stay quiet for twenty minutes so I can finish my work, I’ll let you two pick out a movie while I get the food.”

***

“Ugh, why won’t he respond? I mean, he usually doesn’t, but…”

“Killua, you know Kurapika keeps the group chat muted. He never responds to anything in there.” Gon reached for a fork, then looked down at his own phone when it buzzed. “Oh, Leorio answered!”

Killua picked up his own phone and was suddenly laughing. Kite had to admit, he was at least a little curious.

He couldn’t see what the text from Leorio said, but he could see that Killua had sent a picture of…was that He Man? Why? Squinting, he tried to read the quick sequence of texts Killua had sent afterwards.

hey kurapika

this is you

get a haircut

your bangs look dumb

hey answer us

im changing your name in my contacts

…And then a string of various emojis. Kite had to try hard not to laugh. There was…at least a slight resemblance, he had to admit. As Killua was putting his phone down, Kite could see that the Leorio’s response was in all caps.

Kite hadn’t been paying attention to the movie at all, but the two boys seemed to be enjoying themselves. He wasn’t even sure what movie they’d picked out, honestly. He still had a bit of work to do, and let the movie’s dialogue fade to background noise as he read over emails.

After about an hour, Kite felt like he’s made a decently sized dent in his inbox, and decided to put everything away for the night. Looking away from his computer screen, he saw that both Gon and Killua were, somehow, fast asleep. Killua was curled up against the couch arm, and Gon was at an awkward angle with his head on his friend’s shoulder. It looked...really uncomfortable.

Should he move them? It wasn’t that late - maybe he should wait until the movie was over, at least. He could try to get into watching the movie, at least.

By the time the movie was over, Kite was having a hard time staying awake, himself. Both of the boys were still asleep, still in the same uncomfortable position. Well. He couldn’t exactly leave them there all night. Kite stood, joints popping as he stretched to his full height.

Hands on his hips, Kite considered both of the boys. It would be easier to move Gon first, he decided. Bending to pick up the kid, he turned to go towards his room. The door was open a little bit, and he pushed it the rest of the way open with his foot before setting him down on the bed - he was heavier than expected. What the hell kind of middle schooler had that kind of muscle mass?

It was even worse with Killua - he somehow stayed asleep, but he was restless enough that Kite had a hard time carrying him to the room at all. His arm hit the doorframe, hard, and Kite winced, but somehow Killua stayed asleep. Kite set him down on the other side of the bed and closed the door behind him on the way out.

Kite turned off the tv - forgetting that there were no lights in the room other than the screen, and had to fumble to turn on a lamp on the side table. Since he finished everything he’d had to do for work that day, there wasn’t any harm in getting some extra rest - he’d be back on-site with the research team next week, and he never slept well in the hotel they all used nearby the site. Unfolding one of the blankets he’d left on the couch, he took out a book he’d been reading and leaned back onto the couch cushions.

“Hey, Gon, wake up. How did we get here? Do you remember finishing the movie?” Killua poked the other boy’s arm, trying to wake him up.

“I think we fell asleep in the middle of it, I guess Kite carried us in here.” Gon sat up, rubbing at his eyes.

“With those noodle arms? He’s stronger than I thought.”

“Aw, don’t be mean!” Gon protested halfheartedly.

“I wasn’t, it was supposed to be a compliment! Hey, what time is it? I can’t see the clock from here.”

“It’s not quite midnight, why?”

“Eh, we don’t really need to sleep yet. You wanna stay up longer? It’ll be fun! I have some video games we can play if we keep the volume down!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Professional emails are gross and I don't know what to say in them either - I got all the "technical" stuff from my freshman bio class. Don't talk to me or my untitled iPhoto album with 347 pictures of Kite ever again -


	5. Wednesday

“I know you’re busy, but Killua and I found something really important! We just found some baby bunnies in the yard and we don’t know where their mom is and you know a lot about animals, right?”

Kite saved an email draft as Gon practically skidded to a stop in front of him. The boy bumped into the corner of the table, just barely catching a stack of papers from falling onto the floor. Kite reached out to keep the flower vase next to them from falling as well.

“Slow down - where did you find them in the yard?” He was already standing, and Gon was nearly shaking with energy.

“Kind of on the edge, where the grass is taller because we can’t mow it since there’s tree roots. Killua’s watching them right now.”

“Did either of you touch them?” Kite let Gon lead him into the backyard.

He quickly shook his head. “No - I know you’re not supposed to touch baby birds, so it’s probably the same with rabbits, right?”

“Well, yes, but not for the reason you think. Birds won’t reject their babies if you touch them, they actually don’t have the best sense of smell. But baby birds and rabbits are both pretty fragile, so it’s still best not to touch them anyways, so you don’t hurt them or stress them out - Killua, are they over there with you?” He turned his attention to the other boy.

“Yeah, they haven’t moved or anything. I can’t see the mom anywhere, but I guess she wouldn’t come back if we’re right here.”

“Is there any special name for baby rabbits? Like how deer are fawns, or birds are chicks?” Gon asked.

“The babies are called kits. Adult females are does, and the males are called bucks - like deer.” Kite explained as he knelt down close enough to watch the kits, but far enough away that he wouldn’t disturb them.

“I’m not too worried about them, but I’m glad you noticed the litter. Rabbits aren’t like a lot of species because the mothers don’t spend a lot of time around their young, so a lot of people find litters and think they’re abandoned. We can put something here and check if the mother’s moved it later, but other than that we should leave them alone. Can either of you find a small stick around here, or something like that?”

Gon found one first, close enough that he hardly had to move to reach it. He leaned over to give it to Kite, who carefully set it a little bit away from the kits.

“Okay, you can take a picture so you can tell if it’s been moved even a little when we check in a few hours. Let’s go back inside now so the doe can come back if she wants to.”

“Wow, you sure know a lot about animals!” Gon jumped to his feet as Kite stood more slowly.

“Yeah, I thought you researched birds,” Killua added, brushing the dirt off his pants where he’d been kneeling on his knees.

“That’s just my current work. A lot of my research is on insects, actually. My first project after working with Ging was on a subspecies of bear. I’m a biological surveyor, so it’s not like I’m focusing on researching one type of animal. I’m mostly looking at how animals interact with ecosystems, and different surveying projects are about different animals.”

“Wait, you’ve never done work with rabbits, then?”

“Nope. Just a couple little facts I picked up in an undergrad class years ago. I had a professor who volunteered in wildlife rehab and talked about it sometimes. I guess it’s good I payed attention in a morning class, huh?” He paused, holding the back door open for Gon and Killua.

“You two have any homework left?” He asked, hands on his hips, after they’d gotten back to the living room.

“Nope! We were thinking about just playing video games until dinner, if that’s okay.” Killua shoved his hands in his pockets.

***

“Look, I’m not saying that we should make flower crowns, I’m just saying that I know how to make flower crowns and there’s plenty of wildflowers on the edge of the woods that would be really good for making them, and we have time - ”

“You’re not getting me to wear a flower crown, Gon!”

“Aw, why not? They’re super cool! I’ll make you one, you’ll change your mind then! And if you don’t like it, I’ll give it to my aunt when she gets back, or maybe I’ll give it to Kite!”

The door to Gon’s bedroom was open, and both boys were talking loudly enough that Kite could hear everything they were saying from the couch. They’d gotten bored of playing video games a little bit after dinner, and were now sitting on the bed talking about anything and everything, it seemed.

“He doesn’t want a flower crown.”

“You don’t know that! I’d like it if someone made me a flower crown! …His hair is really cool though, don’t you think so?” Gon changed the subject suddenly. “It’s so long! I bet it takes a lot of time to keep it looking so nice - I don’t even like taking time to brush my hair now, imagine how long it would take me to brush my hair if it was long like that!”

Killua snorted. “You’d never brush it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. His hair looks really soft, doesn’t it?”

“My hair’s soft, too!” Killua complained.

“Yeah, but your hair’s fluffy - there’s a difference. Yours is like a fluffy cat! …You know those dogs? Afghan hounds, I think? That’s what Kite’s hair reminds me of!”

“Fine, I like cats, so I’ll agree with that.”

The conversation died off as Gon stood up to close the blinds. Kite found himself smiling a little - he liked his hair quite a bit, actually.

“…Uh, Killua? What kind of car does your brother drive, again?”

Kite could hear the sound of Killua hitting his head on the bed’s headboard when he sat up. “Milluki?”

“No - come here a second.” Gon’s tone was suddenly dead serious, and Kite found himself a bit on edge.

“Oh, shit. Shit. What - how did he get here? Dammit, he knows we’re home, he’s gonna stop the car - oh, shit, there’s someone in the passenger’s seat, if it’s - dammit, it is, it’s Hisoka, Illumi and Hisoka are here, what the hell - ”

Kite stood quickly. He was walking towards the boys’ room, and they stopped just short of crashing into him when they threw open the door and ran out.

“What’s wrong? Killua, did you say your brother’s here?” Kite steadied them, even though he was more than a little concerned from the panic he’d heard in Killua’s voice.

“Yeah, I don’t know why they came over here, I know they’re up to something, I don’t trust them, they’re creeps and they’re probably gonna do something illegal, why did they both have to come - ”

They heard a shout of laughter from outside, and the muffled slam of a car door. Killua jumped at the sound like it was an electric shock. A second later, the motion-activated light in the front yard turned on.

“You can explain what’s going on after they leave. For now, both of you stay in here. I don’t know what they’re up to, but you’re both pretty clearly uncomfortable, and I’m going to get them to leave.”

“Wait, no - at least take something with you!” Gon insisted. At Kite’s confused look, he continued. “Like a broom or a rake or something!”

“They’re just…troublemakers, right? Just some people in their twenties with too much free time, right? What are you expecting them to do?”

Killua shook his head emphatically. “I don’t know, but my brother’s terrifying, his idea of fun is usually something really weird, and Hisoka’s like his only friend and he freaks me out, too.”

Kite thought for a moment. There were more noises and laughter from outside. “Okay. Come help me find something in the laundry room, then.” He put on his shoes and hat and headed towards the laundry room, both of the boys close behind him.

“Here’s a rake, that could work!”

“No, the end’s too shaky - look, I found a piece of rebar! You should definitely take that!”

“Oh yeah, good idea!”

What the hell did they expect to happen when he went outside, Kite wondered. But still, he took the rebar and considered it for a moment. Yeah, this should work. If he needed something for self-defense, he’d much rather use this than a rake.

“Right. I’m heading outside, then.” Just as they all turned towards the door, they heard the faint sound of something hitting the house, followed by the jarring laughter of two voices outside.

Killua and Gon jumped. “Are they egging the house or something? Seriously?”

“You two stay inside - watch from the window, if you want.” And then Kite stepped outside, making sure to hear the door click closed behind him.

“Oh? Who are you?” He couldn’t make out the person’s face, but the voice sounded oddly calm and even curious. Kite didn’t answer. 

“Are Gon and Killua inside? Aw, I haven’t seen them in so long!” He raised his voice to address them. “Gon, I’m sure you’ve grown so much since the last time I saw you! Why don’t you come outside and say hello?”

Kite was starting to see why Gon and Killua were so uncomfortable with these two. There was something decidedly unsettling about the tone that the person standing at the edge of the yard was speaking with.

“Hisoka, I didn’t bring you here so you could talk to children.” Illumi, Kite deduced - he was just as unnerving, his voice icy cold and devoid of any emotion except whatever amusement he was getting out of this whole thing. “Killua, why didn’t you want to stay at my house this week? You hurt my feelings, Kil. Besides, I went by our parents’ house today, all of our brothers say hello! Especially Alluka, he really misses you.”

“Shut up!” Killua yelled back. The frustration was clear in his voice, but he didn’t say anything else…which meant that the attention of both Illumi and Hisoka was again turned to Kite. For the first time, he noticed they each had a handful of…something. He tightened his grip on the rebar, the metal already freezing cold against his hands.

Hisoka took one of the somethings in his hands and threw it towards the house, an entirely unnerving grin on his face. Kite felt alarm running through him for the short moment until he realized what the object was - a…piece of candy?

Illumi’s maniacal laugh sounded again as he took in the confusion of the man standing before him. “It’s like egging a house, you see - except it’s more fun, since it’s more illegal.”

“They’re Kinder eggs, see? So it’s doubly illegal, since they’re technically not allowed in the country. And it’s even better, because there isn’t any mess to deal with.” Hisoka pointed out.

Well, that was certainly creative. At least they weren’t doing anything too serious, but that didn’t mean he could relax. He definitely had to get them out of here - something about both of them felt a bit off, and he couldn’t let his guard down yet, not until they were both gone.

“Look. I’m supposed to be watching the kids this week, and I’m not going to let you stay. Just… I don’t want to escalate things. Just leave, I’m sure you have better things to do than throw chocolate candy at a house.”

“We don’t, actually,” Hisoka interrupted with a catlike smirk. “This is pretty fun, you know.” Speaking of cats, there was a certain purring quality to his voice now that Kite definitely did not like.

Illumi threw another of the chocolate eggs, aiming at Kite this time. The aim was good, but Kite knocked it almost effortlessly out of the air with the rebar, hearing the chocolate crack inside the wrapping as it hit the walkway.

“Oh, that was impressive - can you do it again?” Hisoka sounded a bit too interested, and Kite took a single step to the side to dodge the egg he threw.

“Aw, not like that! Why don’t you smash it into the ground again, like before? It’s more fun to watch!”

While Kite was distracted with…whatever Hisoka was talking about, Illumi tossed another chocolate egg in his direction. Without the time to sidestep it, he raised the metal bar and struck it into the ground again, hearing another crack as the chocolate split apart into pieces. He spun the rebar for half a second to adjust his grip on it, moving with the agility of someone who did…something other than biological research for a job.

“That’s kinky…” Hisoka grinned. Of all the words Kite was expecting to hear, that wasn’t any of them. And he was decidedly uncomfortable with the noise that came before them.

Seeing his expression of almost-shock, Hisoka’s smile widened. “What? There’s nothing wrong with being a little bit of a whore!”

“What the hell?” Kite responded before he could think about it. “No, okay, you’re leaving now.” He started to move forward.

“Well, you never said you weren’t interested, I didn’t see the harm in a little casual flirting…” but Kite had already tuned out the rest of what Hisoka was saying. He shifted his focus to Illumi, who’d just leapt the car’s hood like some sort of damn cryptid and dumped the remaining Kinder eggs into the back seat from his position by the open door.

He looked back to Hisoka, who was raising his arm to throw another candy. Kite jumped the last few steps forward and held up the metal rod. Hisoka was standing next to Illumi’s car, and Kite held the rebar at his neck, pinning him against the car. “Don’t even think about throwing that. There’s enough of them to clean up already. Get in the car.”

He wasn’t expecting the undeniably sexual moan that came after, though, and he jumped back - maybe he should’ve expected it, really.

“Oh, so you are interested, after all? I didn’t expect you to be such a sadist - I’m more into sadomasochism, myself.”

“What the hell?” He was still holding the rebar defensively.

“Oh, come on, don’t encourage him. It only works him up more, and I don’t want to deal with that tonight. Come on, Hisoka, we’re leaving. You spoiled it, Kite, and it isn’t any fun anymore.” Illumi spoke in a flat, almost bored tone, from the driver’s seat of the car.

"And you’d better keep it in your pants until we get to the house, Hisoka, or at least do it through your pants, don’t take them entirely off this time, I’m not cleaning your cum out of my car again.” He said it with entirely too much disinterest. Kite didn’t even think to be concerned about how Illumi knew his name.

Before he’d even realized what was happening, the car was pulling away and he was left alone, standing on the edge of the yard just out of the area illuminated by the light on the porch. Blinking slowly, he turned and began picking up the Kinder eggs that were scattered across the lawn. That was…one of the stranger interactions he’d had. At least he was the one watching these kids, and not some college-aged girl or something, he was glad that someone else didn’t have to deal with…whatever had just happened.

By the time he’d gotten up most of the chocolate eggs, the front door had been flung open and Gon and Killua ran outside.

“That was awesome!” Gon reached to take some of the candy from him.

“Yeah, I’m really impressed that you got my brother and Hisoka to leave so easily - I didn’t know you could be so intimidating!” Killua joined in, taking some of the candy as well.

“Um. I have…a lot of questions. We can talk more in the morning, I know it’s late, but… Killua? Your parents actually wanted you to stay with them? They let your brother around you and your younger brothers?” They’d hurried inside and closed the door behind them, locking it securely even though the threat was gone. Kite set the rebar in the corner closest to the door just in case.

Killua shrugged. “My parents don’t really care what my brother does. They’re not gonna do anything, especially now that he lives alone. And they don’t really care much about my little sister anyways. Illumi was just trying to make me mad, he doesn’t care enough to bother with Alluka either.”

Kite took notice of the intensity that had crept into Killua’s tone as he spoke. “So…you’re sure your sister is okay at your parents’ house? Why did they want you to leave, but not her or the rest of your siblings, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“I dunno, I guess it’s because I’d be the biggest problem, or at least that’s what they say. Alluka and Kalluto are homeschooled, and Milluki’s doing a dual-enrollment computer science thingy, so he can stay at home too, but there wouldn’t be anyone to drive me to school.”

Kite nodded. “And…Gon? Uh…Hisoka. You’ve met him before, I guess?”

Gon made a face. “Yeah, when I was at Killua’s house a few times. He’s weird. Don’t worry, I’m smart enough not to talk to him, though.”

“…Right. Okay. So, now that that’s settled…if you don’t mind, I’m going to go put my hands directly on the heater to warm them up, I’ll be back in about ten minutes.” Kite took one of the blankets from the couch as he left.

“Hey, catch!” Killua called out, and Kite turned around just in time to catch one of the chocolate eggs that Killua had been holding.

“Thanks,” he smiled a little, seeing Killua relax a bit more now that his brother was gone and they weren’t talking about him.

“Yeah, no problem…” Killua put one hand behind his head. “…Thanks. That was really cool. I’m sorry my brother came by to bother us.”

Kite shook his head. “Don’t apologize. …I’m going to warm up my hands, alright? You two should get some sleep, if you can. I’ll stay up a little longer, if it’ll help.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's been a while - this is my favorite chapter so far, though, so hopefully that makes up for it? Yes, the thing about Gon with long hair was very intentional and I hate it too. I struggled a lot to get the second half of this chapter right, but once I hit my stride I swear I was possessed or something - I literally do not remember thinking of most of the dialogue, and it's ... uh, hopefully in-character, and incredibly out of my comfort zone as a writer. The whole concept of egging a house with Kinder eggs is just so nonsensical and chaotic - I had help coming up with that concept.


	6. Thursday

“Okay, most of this looks right, there’s a few wrong on your paper on the part about types of interspecies competition, Gon. Do you have notes on that part? I can help you learn it, if you want.” Kite pushed the homework back across the table towards the kid. He reached for his mug of tea, even though it was still too hot to drink.

“I think I can just learn it from my notes, but I might still need help after I read them,” he admitted.

“Sounds good. Want me to take a look at your paper, Killua?”

“Sure. I just finished the questions on the back.”

Kite stood up to move around the table to the chair where Killua was sitting nearby. Killua had jumped into one of the living room chairs, with his feet dangling over one of the arms.

Kite leaned to look over Killua’s shoulder at the homework assignment he was holding. He expected to see some of the same mistakes that he’d pointed out on Gon’s paper, since they’d apparently worked together on that part of it in class.

What he wasn’t expecting was for Killua to jump out of the chair completely, spinning around to face him.

" You don’t have to sneak up behind me like that!” he scowled, shoving the paper towards Kite.

Kite had taken a step back, but reached out for the offered paper. That was…definitely not a healthy startle response. It was something he almost wanted to compare to the skittish rabbits outside, not something he would expect from a boy in middle school.

Killua had shoved his hands back into his pockets, trying to appear uninterested as Kite checked over his homework.

There were only a few questions wrong on the page. Kite sighed internally. “When’s this paper due?”

" Not until Monday. We have all weekend to do it, but I wanted to get it done so I didn’t forget what we learned!” Gon supplied from his seat at the kitchen table.

" Why don’t we take a break for now, then? It’s getting late. I don’t have any work to do, so if you want to play video games in here or something, it’s fine.” He offered, not really knowing what else he should do, if anything.

" Hey, Killua, we should play Mario Kart!” Gon had jumped up from his seat now, running around to the tv to set it up without waiting for an answer.

" Yeah, alright, I guess that could be fun.”

As both of the boys became more excited about playing the game, Kite found himself getting dragged into it as well. His mug of tea forgotten in the kitchen, he was pulled towards the couch and handed a controller. Well, there were definitely worse things to be pressured into, he supposed.

" No fair, I was gonna be Metal Mario!”

" You can, I’m not stopping you!”

" But it’s more fun if we’re all different - I know! I’ll be Dry Bowser, I haven’t done that in a while!”

" Hey Kite, you should be Waluigi,” Killua said without looking up. Kite didn’t have to look either to hear the smirk in the kid’s voice.

" What’s wrong with DK?”

" Nothing. I just think you should be Waluigi. It would be funny.”

Kite narrowed his eyes. “No, I know you’re laughing at something.”

“I just think you kind of look like - ”

“I definitely do not look like Waluigi.” Kite raised one eyebrow and faked a glare at Killua as Gon, sitting between them, tried to hide his laughter.

“You wouldn’t have been able to finish my sentence if you didn’t agree with me, old man.”

Kite said nothing more - he wouldn’t encourage Killua by keeping it going, he told himself, he was the adult here - and left Donkey Kong selected. In a few seconds more, they’d finished working through the selection menus and Killua and Gon began arguing over the track selection.

Kite closed his eyes - now he remembered his tea in the kitchen, but he didn’t want to go get it. He draped one arm over the side of the couch, crossing his legs at the knee and stretching out.

There was definitely something not right about Killua’s family, that much was clear. From the kid’s reflexive response to being startled, to...whatever had happened the night before, there was definitely something going on. He would tell Mito everything tomorrow, he reminded himself - it would be fine. 

And it wasn’t like it was his business anyways, right? He was just a babysitter really, watching the kids for a week as a favor. Sure, Mito would appreciate knowing what happened last night, but he was sure she already knew what was going on with the Zoldycks - at least more than he did. Gon and Killua had been friends for a while, and he knew that Mito (unlike Ging) was interested enough in who Gon’s friends were to know if something was going on at home. So he’d tell her about the Kinder egg fiasco, but he wouldn’t be nosy about the rest of it, he decided.

He opened his eyes only when he heard Gon asking if he was ready. Kite sat up straighter, shaking his head briefly to clear it. He realized that he hadn’t even been paying attention to what circuit they’d chosen.

Kite didn’t consider himself to be a particularly competitive man, but his research team had spent many a late night on a faded motel or apartment sofa, stacks of paperwork and rumpled clothing on the floor around them, playing various video games together. The competitive nature of Stick, Banana, and Spinner in particular was contagious, and besides, who didn’t enjoy a good game of Mario Kart?

“Hey, you’re not bad, for a grown up!” Killua said after a while. He was currently in first, with the others not far behind.

“I’m not that old - it’s not like I’ve never played Mario Kart before!” He protested, not looking away from the tv. A few moments later, he found himself smiling. “This reminds me of the time one of my researchers tried to drift our rental car in the parking lot.”

Killua immediately paused the game. “Well now you have to tell us!”

“Spinner, she was an intern back then. She was trying to show off, and her friend Banana was in the passenger seat yelling the whole time. It was raining so the asphalt was pretty slick, and Spin actually got the thing to do a few donuts - she’s a pretty good driver. She’s calmed down a little in the last few years, but...it’s a pretty crazy team, especially if they spend too much time on a site together.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun,” Killua offered.

“Did my dad have a team he worked with like that?” Gon asked - a genuine, innocent curiosity, really.

“He...sometimes, I think.” Kite thought for a second, trying to figure out what to say. Killua unpaused the game, so it was a bit longer before anyone spoke again. 

“When I worked with Ging, he had a group of people on the dig site working closely with him...but I don’t think they actually were close  _ to _ him. He works with a lot of people, but usually not the same people for long, and it’s hard to get to know him - I wouldn’t call it a team, at least not one like the one I work with.”

He looked over to see the boy’s reaction, but Gon was focused too much on the game to do more than nod distractedly. Kite took one hand off the controller to quickly adjust his hat, then returned to the game himself.

***

As they continued playing, Kite felt like he was getting a hang of it more and more. He’d only managed to beat Killua once, though, and Gon a few times more than that. They must’ve been playing for almost an hour when he first thought of the time. Kite set the controller down beside him - he’d finished third, this time - and closed his eyes as the boys continued to argue over which circuit they’d play next.

He heard a phone vibrate nearby, but didn’t think much of it until both of them went silent.

“Everything okay?” He opened one eye.

Both of the boys were huddled over Killua’s phone, and they looked up at almost the same instant.

“My little sister needs to come over - or something, my brother’s bothering her again. I told her we’d try to figure something out, even if she can’t come here.” The kid’s voice had gone serious again, and so had his eyes.

“Okay, slow down, what’s going on?” He’d never considered himself to be good with people, but the low, careful tone he used to soothe animals for tagging or rehab seemed to get the two of them to relax, at least a little.

“They’re both homeschooled,” Killua began, as Gon looked over his shoulder. “If Milluki finishes his school stuff early he likes to bother my little sister. Damn it! I knew I shouldn’t have left her there alone.”

“Do you think she’s unsafe there in the house?”

“I - ...I don’t know! Milluki makes Alluka cry all the time, and nobody ever takes her side except for me. Kalluto just stays out of the drama, but if Illumi shows up, things could get bad. Alluka said she didn’t want to spend the night there with Milluki tonight - he’s just a stupid bully, I shouldn’t have left her stuck there!” As he was talking, Killua hurriedly closed the game and turned off the tv.

“If we go get Alluka, will either of you get in trouble with your parents?”

“No, they don’t care what we do. Milluki’s gonna complain about it, but we won’t get in trouble.”

Kite nodded, standing and trying to quickly smooth his hair as much as he could from where it had been rumpled by the couch cushions. “Okay, good. Gon - text your aunt and make sure she’s okay with it. I could call her once we’re in the car if I need to, but go ahead and talk to her, will you?”

Gon nodded, determined.

“You two, go ahead and get in the car, I’m right behind you.” He slipped on his shoes and reached for his keys, pausing just long enough to look back at the peaceful living room. Damn, there was never a dull moment with these kids, huh? Well, no time to waste now. He was definitely going to mention his concerns about Killua’s family to Mito when she got back.

Kite locked the front door behind him, unlocking his car from the porch so both boys could get inside. Adjusting his hat again - okay, maybe it was an idle habit - he started towards the driveway.

As he closed the door of the old Jeep and settled into the seat, he squinted at the faded blue paint on the hood. Turning the key in the ignition, he sighed - he’d just remembered that he’d been putting off changing the oil. Well, it could wait the weekend: he’d do it before heading back to the research site, even if he had to do it in a hotel parking lot…again. He mentally filed it away with the dozen or so other things he had to do, and put the car in reverse.

It wasn’t that long of a drive to the Zoldyck house, and Gon’s aunt had answered his text before they’d even gotten out of the neighborhood. Gon relayed her response to Kite - she was fine with Killua’s sister spending the night, if that’s what they decided to do, and made sure he would take Alluka back home when he took the boys to school - apparently Killua’s parents weren’t getting home until tomorrow evening. For the rest of the drive, Kite let the two boys talk between themselves, except for the occasional direction of where to turn.

***

The Zoldyck house was larger than he expected, in a nice subdivision and set back from the street, with a neatly cut front yard enclosed by a fence. Kite stopped at the curb - he wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want to pull into the driveway. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as both Killua and Gon jumped out the second he stopped the car.

Both of them ran down the driveway until they reached the edge of the fence, where a walkway ran between the driveway and the front door, pressed close against the house. They’d hardly gotten halfway down the stone path when the front door opened and a small figure quickly slipped outside, shutting the door as fast as it had been opened.

She darted down the front steps and along the path towards Killua and Gon…and ran straight into Killua, who spun her around in a quick hug - she was a few inches shorter than her brother, Kite noticed.

Through the inch-wide gap where the car windows were left slightly open (the air conditioner was starting to give out - that needed to be fixed too, apparently) he could faintly hear their conversation.

“ - got everything in just your backpack?”

“ - fine, Milluki stopped bothering me and went back in his room - ”

“ - really nice, and when we get to my house, we can show you the baby rabbits in the backyard!”

The last one was Gon, not that he was surprised. When the three of them got back to the car, Gon jumped into the passenger’s seat so Killua and Alluka could sit together in the back.

With three of them in the car now, the noise was louder than it had been on the way there. Kite tried to tune out most of it, but he couldn’t help but listen at least a little. Killua and Gon spent the first five minutes or so telling Alluka about the rabbits in the backyard of the Freecss’ house, about how they’d found them, and how they’d only been able to see the mother go back to her kits once, even as closely as they’d been watching. It was true - every time they walked past the window, they paused to look for her. And he had to admit, they’d gotten him into the habit of doing the same.

The next time Kite found himself listening to their conversation, they were giving Alluka the entire story of… _ whatever _ had happened with Illumi and Hisoka.

Apparently they’d heard more of the conversation from inside than Kite had thought.

The second Killua started to imitate his older brother, Kite forced himself to tune out the conversation and focus on what he would need to do when they got back to the house.

***

When they got back, Kite handed the house key to Gon, letting the three of them run ahead and open the door as he locked his car. By the time he got inside, they were already in Gon’s bedroom. They’d gotten a sleeping bag down from somewhere, and set it up on the floor with a pile of plush blankets.

Only stopping long enough for Alluka to set down her bag, the three children ran out the back door, practically skidding to a stop as Gon motioned for them to whisper. The boys each took one of Alluka’s hands, slowly leading her over towards the edge of the yard where the kits were.

Kite watched for a moment from the kitchen window, then turned. He didn’t have any urgent work to do, but he should at least check his email. His eyes fell to the kitchen table, mostly empty except for the boys’ homework - and his forgotten mug of tea, which was definitely cold by now.

Taking off his hat and tossing it onto the table, Kite ran one hand through his hair as he picked up the mug. While he waited next to the microwave as he reheated it, he could hear Gon, Killua, and Alluka coming back inside.

“Um - Alluka said she didn’t want to play video games, is it okay if we watch a movie?” Gon stood in the doorway.

Kite opened the microwave, taking the now-warm mug in both hands for its heat and closing the microwave with his elbow.

“That’s fine with me. I don’t really feel up to cooking anything - you guys okay if we order pizza?”

Gon nodded almost instantly, to Kite’s relief.

“Is cheese okay?”

“Hold on - let me ask!” Gon was already running towards the bedroom. Kite waited a moment, setting the mug of tea back on the kitchen table.

“Yeah, cheese pizza is good!” Came Gon’s response, shouted across the house.

Kite took his phone out of his pocket and wandered back into the living room, practically collapsing onto the couch. Yeah, that wasn’t going to be comfortable for long. He started looking up the phone number for a pizza place nearby.

***

The three kids stayed in Gon’s room while he waited - he could hear them through the open door, almost too clearly. Just as expected, the doorbell rang in about half an hour. Setting his laptop aside (there had been more emails than he’d expected, some from the other half of the project that he should probably answer sooner rather than later), he moved to answer the door.

Halfway through paying for the pizza he realized that all three of the kids were standing right behind him. When he brought the pizza inside, he looked around for a moment.

“…I’m just going to leave this in the living room, okay?”

“I can take it for you!” Gon offered. He had far too much energy for how late it was - in fact, Kite hadn’t realized just how late it was until now.

“We haven’t decided on a movie yet, but you should come watch it with us when we do!” Gon grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet a little.

“Sure, I’ll be in there in a little bit - you should go ahead and start. I have some emails to answer first, okay?”

Gon nodded, then spun around and hurried into the living room with the pizza box, Killua and Alluka close behind him.

Kite found it easy to tune out their conversation as they tried to pick a movie, returning to the kitchen table where he’d set up his laptop. It took him a moment to find his place on the email he’d been reading, but he quickly started back to work again.

***

It had already been getting dark when the pizza had arrived - he remembered seeing streetlights on outside when he’d paid for it - but by the time Kite took a break from his work, night had fallen completely.

Kite leaned back in his chair, twisting to squint at the clock on the microwave. Well, it wasn’t  _ that _ late, at least. He picked up his empty mug (he’d remembered to drink it before it got cold this time) and stood, heading towards the sink to rinse it out.

He realized that he could hear the television in the other room - they’d decided on a movie, then. Well, it couldn’t hurt to join them, to go see what it was. After all, someone from Mackernasey’s team had reworked the data into the format his team had requested - and he hadn’t even had to ask for it, this time. He’d told himself that if the next batch of data had shown up in the wrong format he’d switch it over himself, spend an extra hour or two staring at spreadsheets and whatnot, to avoid wasting time with confrontation and let both teams focus on the project - but it had apparently been done for him already. Huh. He wondered which of them had done it.

For now, though, he could put his work out of his mind. Going into the living room, he saw some action movie playing - at a surprisingly low volume, at least compared to how loud it had been playing Mario Kart earlier. That’s why he hadn’t noticed it before, he realized.

He saw, then, why the volume had been turned down: Alluka was asleep on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and squeezing a plush pillow to her chest, and Killua was beside her, sleeping at an odd angle and with his mouth open. Kite looked towards the chair where Gon was sitting: he was only slightly more awake, and as Kite watched, his head nodded down towards his chest and then jolted back upright.

Kite sighed through his nose. The remote was on the floor in front of the couch; he went ahead and turned the volume down further and quietly placed it back where he’d found it. The three of them would probably wake up at some point and head to the bedroom...and even if they didn’t, they were young enough that they wouldn’t be too sore from their sleeping arrangements. 

But it was time for him to get some rest, he decided, and he didn’t have that liberty. He eyed the other empty chair in the dim light.  _ Well, there was nothing else that could be done for it. _

A few minutes later, he came out of the bathroom and back into the living room in pajamas (sweatpants and an old shirt, really) and with his hair tied back. He paused for a moment, hands on his hips, and looked again at the chair.  _ At least it was a recliner. _ Picking up a blanket that had fallen off the back of the couch, Kite switched off the last lights and settled into the recliner, turning away from the muted tv. Hopefully the light of the screen would, at some point, wake up the three kids, and hopefully they’d go back into the bedroom so he could have the couch. But for now - it wouldn’t have been a big deal to wake them up, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes, it's been forever since I updated this... It's been a crazy couple of months, and online classes have been something else. Alluka is here now and she's wonderful. Also, the uh...Mario Kart scene. There's a bit of a running joke with some of my friends, calling Kite "anime Waluigi." My man has the proportions of a noodle, let's be real.


	7. Friday (Epilogue)

In the morning, Kite woke the three of them up earlier - after all, he still had to get Alluka back to the Zoldyck place before taking the other two to school. The three of them were surprisingly quiet during breakfast, but Kite hardly noticed - he was just as tired as they were.

The drive was quiet, too - at least until they dropped Alluka off at her and Killua's house. After that, it seemed like Gon and Killua finally started to wake up a bit more, talking about their classes and something about studying with Leorio. Kite didn't pick up most of it - he was still trying to wake up, and to get an idea of the work he had to do for the day.

"Bye! See you after school!" Gon jumped out of the car, waving.

Killua followed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, thanks for the ride."

Kite waved and said some kind of goodbye, said he hoped they had a good day at school - he couldn't remember what he said, exactly. As he drove off, he was already trying to make a list of things he'd need to do before picking them up that afternoon.

Okay, he needed to get the Jeep's oil changed before heading back to the research site on Monday. He'd do it himself if he had a place to work - he didn't really want to work on his car in a motel parking lot again.

And that was another thing - he still needed to get a hotel room for the next few nights. ...And he was expecting a few more emails he'd need to respond to, something from a guy on Mackernasey's team and some other discussions about funding and equipment.

He should probably try to go by a laundromat too - he wasn't about to use anything at Mito's place without asking. Now if he could just remember all four things long enough to get home and make a list - wait, it was four things, right?

Yeah, he was going to need some more coffee.

***

In the end, everything was safely accounted for, and Kite was able to find a hotel room and draft email answers while waiting at the laundromat. He was pretty satisfied with how much he'd been able to get done by the time he needed to go get the two kids from school.

"Do you know what time your aunt's going to be back?" Killua was asking as they approached the car.

"She said Friday afternoon, so she could be back now, actually!"

"She wasn't there when I left around noon, but she might be back by now," Kite said as they got in the car. "Did you boys get to study with your friend?"

"Nah, I think we might call him tonight. We just had some questions about a paper we're writing."

"Hm. I'll probably head out before then, so good luck, okay?"

Kite let the two of them talk together without adding much as they drove home. He didn't have to leave by a certain time, but it would be good to know if he'd be taking Killua home, or if Mito would want to do it instead. It couldn't hurt to let the two kids spend a few more hours together.

When they got back to the house, Mito's car was already in the driveway. Kite had barely put his car in park when Gon jumped out, and Killua was hardly a second behind him. Gon was running up the front steps by the time Kite had gotten out of the car.

"Hi, Aunt Mito! Did you have a good trip?"

She opened the front door as the kids reached it. "Slow down a second - let me finish unloading my car first. I want to hear about your week! Did you have fun?"

Gon and Killua started talking at once, both telling Mito everything they could about their week. Thankfully, Kite didn't hear them saying anything about Wednesday night yet: he wanted to ask Mito about that later, maybe over the phone or something.

The car's trunk was open and a few of her bags were still inside. Still listening to the two boys talking, she picked up the rest of them and closed the trunk with her elbow.

"I can take those inside, if you want," Kite offered, trying to be heard over Gon and Killua talking about the rabbits in the backyard. "You should go take a look, just make sure not to get too close."

Once they were all inside, he set the bags on the couch. His own things had already been put back into the Jeep, and he was pretty much ready to head out. He was alone in the house while the boys were carefully showing Mito the rabbits in the backyard, and he wasn't quite sure what to do other than stand around.

It had been quite the week, that was for sure.

"Are you leaving so soon? You're welcome to stay for dinner."

"Oh - thank you, but I probably shouldn't stay. I have plenty of work to get done before heading back to the research site." He hadn't even noticed them coming back inside.

"That's a shame - good luck, though!" Mito answered over her shoulder as she carried some of her bags into her room. "And thank you again. I know it was sort of last-minute. I hope they weren't too much of a handful?"

"No, they were fine. I - well," he lowered his voice, even though the two boys were still talking happily outside. "Killua's brother showed up one night as some sort of prank. Everything turned out fine, but I don't know how much Gon told you about it. I feel like I need to tell you the full story - can I call you later?"

"He mentioned it, but I don't know all the details. I was so worried when he told me - I could hardly focus on my work the next morning."

"I imagine so - I'm sorry about that. They left pretty quickly, but I just want to make sure you know the details." Yeah, he wasn't sure how he was going to explain those details.

"Thank you - I really appreciate it. Do you want to call tonight, or...?"

"Sure, I'll call you as soon as I get to the hotel."

There were a few seconds of silence - well, not quite silence, as they could hear Gon and Killua outside.

"...I should head out, I'm sure you want to rest. Do you want me to take Killua home for you?"

"It's okay, I can do it after dinner, don't worry."

Kite nodded, opening the back door to get the kids' attention. "Hey - I'm about to leave. Uh - good luck on those papers, okay?"

"Aw, you're leaving already?"

Kite wasn't expecting Gon to come barreling towards him, but he probably shouldn't have been surprised.

"This week was really fun! You should come back the next time Aunt Mito has a work trip, okay?" Gon hugged him tightly, and Killua followed a second later, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Um - thanks...that sounds good."

"Send us pictures from your job, okay? I think Kurapika is interested too, we can show him too if there's anything cool," Killua added.

"Sure, I can do that. ...I'll see you kids around, alright?" What was he  _ supposed _ to say? He stepped back, reaching for the door handle.

"Keep an eye on those kits for me, okay?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are! I just finished this chapter a few minutes ago after months of picking at it. (Somehow, I managed to have writer's block on this one specific fic). I'm not entirely happy with it, but if I tried to make it perfect I'd never finish it, right? It's barely been proofread so I'll go back over it in the morning.


End file.
